The End of All Things
by Jedi Sapphire
Summary: One-shot. The King is dead. Two Elves have a conversation before they will both leave Minas Tirith forever. Angst. Characters: Legolas and Arwen


**Summary:** One-shot. The King is dead. Two Elves have a conversation before they will both leave Minas Tirith forever. Angst.

**Author's Note:** This assumes that Elladan and Elrohir left Middle-earth before Aragorn's death.

Many thanks to my wonderful beta, Calenlass, for comments, suggestions, and patience with questions.

**Rating:** PG

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Legolas, Arwen, or Minas Tirith. :(

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**The End of All Things**

The Elf walked unseeing through the mourning halls, barely acknowledging the greetings of servants and courtiers as he made his way to the royal apartments. The oaken door was shut, but his knock was answered at once by a chambermaid.

"Prince Legolas! The Queen says she will see nobody."

"She will see me," the Elf responded softly. "Please, tell her I am here."

The girl looked doubtful, but she disappeared within. The Elf's sharp ears caught the murmur of conversation. A moment later, she returned to usher Legolas inside.

Legolas looked at Arwen closely for the first time since the funeral. Her beauty had not been diminished by the ravages of grief, but it was a different beauty now. The sparkle of her eyes had vanished. No longer was she the merry and mirthful young Elf-maid who had given an Elfling his first lessons in Quenya by teaching him rude names to call her brothers.

Arwen was one of the youngest Elves still in Middle-earth, but in that instant she seemed to have seen as much joy and sorrow as the Lady Galadriel herself.

"You look terrible," Arwen said. "You are taking it hard, Legolas."

Legolas started, smiled ruefully at the irony of her statement, and said, "I will miss Estel… I will miss Middle-earth. But I did not come here to talk about myself. How are you, Arwen?"

"I do not know," Arwen confessed. "I have wept until my tears were spent, yet that had not eased the grief in my heart. I fear that it is not for Estel I grieve. I will see him again, I trust, past the circles of this world. That day is not far off… It is the parting from everyone else that grieves me. I… I must confess that until Estel told me he was dying I held to hope that – that –"

"That it would be as with Tuor and Idril?" Legolas asked gently, and the _elleth_ nodded. "I have hoped the same thing, Arwen, day after day and night after night as the years wore on."

"Estel asked me if I wanted to go to Valinor."

"Do you?"

"No," Arwen choked out. "No, for then I would see Estel no more, and I would have only the memory of our love. The thought of the endless centuries of an Elven life without Estel, even in the Blessed Realm, is –"

She broke off at the sudden darkness in her companion's eyes.

"Forgive me, _mellon nîn_," the Queen of Gondor said remorsefully. "I know how the thought must pain you."

"Nay, do not ask my forgiveness, Arwen. I know what you mean."

"I must follow Estel," she said, getting to her feet and beginning to pace feverishly. "Bound by my choice and by my love, I must follow him. Yet only now do I realize what that choice means. I have never before been without Elven companionship, Legolas. Even after I wed Estel, my brothers were here for a time, and after they left _you_ have been here. Ithilien is green and beautiful, like an Elven-haven found East of the Sea. Where I must now go, I will be a lone Elf among mortals, truly, truly alone."

Legolas shook his head, getting to his feet to take Arwen's shoulders and stop her relentless pacing.

"Your father or your brothers would have been better suited to speak of this than I... Arwen, _gwethel nîn_, I am not wise, and I have never been inclined to study ancient lore. It may be that it is as they say, that in the end Elves and Men will be reunited, that all who are lost will be restored. But even if this is not so, if this parting truly _is_ to the end of time and beyond..." Legolas paused a moment to steady his voice. "You will not be a lone Elf among mortals, Undómiel. You will have the company of she in whose likeness you walk."

"Lúthien."

Legolas smiled, although his heart was not in it.

"Lúthien. The minstrels are right. The Firstborn are doomed ever to lose those whom best they love."

A look of perfect understanding passed between the only two Elves in the great towered city of Minas Tirith. Then Arwen shivered.

"Legolas... I am frightened. I did not fully realize what my choice meant until – until Estel died. They – they do not feel grief as we do. To think I scorned and pitied them once! Now I envy Men so much my heart could burst from it! How do they forget so soon?"

"They do not have centuries to waste on grief, Arwen."

"None of them understood," Arwen said, tears filling her eyes. "Not even Eldarion, although, dear child, he tried. The last time I knew grief anywhere approaching this was when _Nana_ sailed, and then I gained some comfort from the lays and the ballads. I had thought to stay in Minas Tirith until my time came, but now I see it cannot be. I must be among Elves, or at least among the memory of Elves, until the end comes."

"Arwen, if you want me to stay –"

"No, _gwador nîn_. I could not ask that of you. You have stayed in Middle-earth far too long already. You should have left when Dan and Ro did."

"I have stayed this long without disaster. It will not kill me to stay a little longer. Your brothers and your parents, on the other hand, _will_ kill me if I leave you to face the end alone."

"Legolas." Arwen laid a hand on his shoulder. "To Elven eyes, at least, it is clear to see what the Sea-longing and your sorrow for Estel have done to you. I will not have you staying here and wasting away as I watch. You must go. I have made my choice, Elfling." She paused, and then smiled. "No more will I be giving you lectures on history and politics beneath the beeches of Imladris."

Legolas returned her smile, although his eyes were suspiciously bright.

"You have not done that for centuries, Arwen."

"Does Gimli know you are leaving?"

"Yes. He wants to come with me – to see Lady Galadriel again, he says, although I suspect that the truth is that he does not believe me capable of steering a ship safely without his advice." Legolas bowed his head for a moment. "He is experienced and wise now, as the Dwarves reckon things. Soon they will call him old."

"And you are still the merry young prince of the Woodland Realm." Arwen let out a breath. "Do you remember how, when we were younger, you and my brothers and I often wondered what it would be like to measure time as mortals do?"

Legolas nodded. "I never imagined it would be so painful... It feels like there has never been a time when I did not know Estel, and yet..."

"And yet it feels like only yesterday that you met him first," Arwen finished as her friend trailed off. "I know. I have felt it as well... I did not see Estel grow up as my brothers did, and it shocked me to see how quickly my children grew. I cannot believe Eldarion is old enough to rule. I have known so much of him, and so little."

"He will be a good king, like his father."

"Do you think my children love me, Legolas?"

"The children?" the Elf repeated, startled. "Of course they do, Arwen. You must know that. They all adore you."

"They love their mother," Arwen conceded, "but do they love Arwen Undómiel? They have hardly had time to know me, Legolas! And now I must leave them."

"They know you, Arwen."

"As well as you and I know our parents? I have had so little time with them!"

Legolas smiled sadly and took her hands in his.

"Were you not the one who told me that it is dangerous to count seasons by Elven reckoning when dealing with Men? They know you very well, Arwen. They will miss your counsel and your laughter alike."

"They will miss you as well," Arwen responded, a hint of mirth in her voice for the first time. "It is all to the better that you plan to sail soon, Legolas. I have a feeling that in a few years Eldarion would have begun treating you much as my brothers do – and Estel."

"Like an irresponsible and half-witted child?" Legolas said with a grimace. "_That_ I will not be sorry to miss." Then, his mood going from mocking to serious in an instant, "And what of you, Arwen? If you will not stay in Minas Tirith, where will you go? Imladris?"

"Who is in Imladris now? I will not spend my last days alone in empty halls, even if they _are _the halls of my childhood. I will go to Lórien. There I will find peace to ease my passing." She paused. "When will you sail?"

"As soon as I have seen my father. He says it will be a few years before he can come. He wishes to settle matters in Eryn Lasgalen, root out any remaining spiders and wargs, so that those who wish to remain in Middle-earth will at least have a safe home. I would stay and help him, but he will not have it."

"I do not blame him," Arwen murmured, casting a swift, anxious glance at the Elf-prince's pale face. "You will see him soon, Elfling. I expect my brothers and my parents will keep you from brooding until then."

"I doubt they will be thrilled to see me," Legolas said. "I will be the bearer of ill tidings."

"They already know," Arwen said simply. "The day I wed Estel my path was set. None of them will blame you for the outcome of my choice. Give them my love, Legolas."

"I will." Legolas rose to go. "_Namärié, Undómiel._"

"Wait, Elfling." Arwen got to her feet as well. "I have one last favour to ask of you – I would not, if I had a choice, for I know how near your grief for Estel still is. But there is no other who can help me." She paused, looking at him closely. "Tomorrow I leave Minas Tirith and the realm of Gondor, and soon you will sail for the Blessed Realm. It may be that we will not meet again before the breaking of the world. This last night, _gwador nîn_, will you stay and sing the laments with me?"

"For Estel?"

"For all whom we have lost – for all whom we must lose."

Without a word, Legolas followed her to the balcony. As night fell over Minas Tirith, two Elven voices wafted through its silent streets singing of love, loss, and the sorrows that time itself could not heal.

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**Elvish Translations**

_Elleth_ – Female Elf

_Mellon n__î__n_ – My friend

_Gwethel n__î__n_ – My (sworn) sister

_Nana_ – Mum/Mummy

_Gwador n__î__n_ – My (sworn) brother

_Nam__ä__ri__é__, Und__ó__miel._ – Farewell, Evenstar.

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